🧏♀️ Real-Time Accessibility Tools Are Evolving—But Where Is Sign Language?
- Tim Scannell
- Aug 1
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 18
We’ve seen major advances in virtual meeting platforms - real-time captions, gesture recognition, and even eye gaze interaction. These tools are opening up access for many users with disabilities.
But one question keeps coming up:👉 Where is the support for sign language users - especially British Sign Language (BSL)?
Some platforms are trialling ASL support in the U.S., or quietly offering pre-recorded interpreter features. But there’s still no visible commitment to full sign language inclusion —not through AI, not through human interpreters, and not through inclusive platform design.
This is despite the BSL Act 2022 and long-standing equality legislation in the UK.
🔍 I’ve found examples of companies working on AI sign language technology as far back as 2013, even in partnership with major tech platforms. Some of these projects showed real promise. Some companies reached multi-million Euro revenues across Europe.
And yet, many of them quietly faded. You can still trace these initiatives online if you look closely enough.
💬 For me, this isn’t just about AI. It’s about creating genuine communication access for sign language users:
AI is one route, but so are holograms, face-to-face interpretation, wearable devices, remote interpreters, and more.
We need multiple solutions, not just one.
We need visibility, funding, and long-term commitment, not just pilots that quietly vanish.
Too often, the needs of Deaf signers are overlooked while other areas of accessibility take centre stage.
🧠 Shouldn’t we be asking:
Why aren’t human and AI solutions working together to support signers?
Why is sign language missing in meetings, websites, and public services?
Why do we celebrate DEI on paper but forget Deaf inclusion in practice?
It’s time to bring sign language users back into the heart of digital accessibility, not just as a future ambition, but as a present-day priority.
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